Grellor barks a rough laugh and holds up his blood-slicked sword. “Gods, no. Only one femalefor me.” He lifts the blade a fraction higher. “This beauty is Helena.”
A shared chuckle ripples through us, a brief, precious moment of levity. But then Mathis’s expression darkens, his eyes scanning the destruction with a grim set to his jaw. “It’s bad,” he says, his voice low. “Half our forces are down. The initial attack was devastating. It came out of nowhere, and it was almost as though our soldiers were just hanging around waiting for something to happen, and then when it did, couldn’t react.”
I see the way he looks at Rylan, the unspoken acknowledgment of the dire situation passing between them. For the first time since this battle began, Rylan’s face flickers with something remotely close to worry. Before I can ask Mathis for more details, a sudden, panicked yell slices through the noise.
All of us turn toward the sound. Rylan reaches behind him, his hand searching in the chaos for mine, and I grab it, lacing my fingers with his and squeezing tightly as we push through the haze of smoke and carnage toward the shout. The destruction is staggering—stone blocks torn from the tower, gaping holes where walls once stood, and splinters of shattered wood jutting out like jagged teeth.
And then we see it.
The tower leans dangerously, cracks spider-webbing up its height, threatening to give in to gravity at any moment.
I scan the chaos, searching for an answer. My eyes catch on a series of fractured beams and a weakened base section just beneath the tower’s midpoint. An idea sparks, bright and reckless. Before Rylan can stop me, I tear away from his grasp and rush toward the tower.
“Eira!” he shouts, his voice sharp with alarm, but I don’t slow down. The tower groans, the sound a deep, throaty rumble that shakes the ground beneath my feet. I reach out, mymagic surging in response. The river answers, threads of shimmering water rising and lacing through the air, coiling around the base of the crumbling structure like liquid vines. I grit my teeth and push harder, feeling the strain as I hold the weight of stone and wood aloft, freezing them in place.
“Hold!” I yell, voice straining against the roar of falling debris. The force of it trembles through my arms, cold and biting. The strain is almost unbearable, my muscles screaming, my breath ragged.
“I need Lira!!” I shout for the Terranir, the plea ripping from my chest. But amidst the cacophony, my voice is swallowed whole. The tower shifts, a splintering crack racing up its side. “Anyone here with Terra strength?” I scream again, desperation clawing at my throat.
“I’ll go find Lira!” Doran’s voice cuts through, understanding what I need, and I see him dart off, weaving through the chaos with a speed born of urgency.
My vision blurs, but I don’t let go. The water tightens its grip, the shimmering tendrils holding fast, buying precious seconds as I feel the world narrowing to the pulse of my own heartbeat. The roar of the battle fades for a moment, replaced by the sickening crunch of ice and stone shattering around me. Wringing every last ounce of my magic, I throw up another layer of ice around the tower, willing it to hold.
Isaid… I am fucking limitless!
“Eira, you’re going to burn out!” Rylan shouts just as there’s a surge of attackers along the front line.
“Go!” I yell, my voice raw. “You go where you’re needed! I’m okay!”
Mathis appears by my side, sword in hand. “I’ll guard her until Lira gets here,” he says to Rylan. “You need to go and takedown their cannon or else all the magic in the world won’t hold this tower up.”
Rylan’s jaw clenches before he raises his hands and shoots his own water web up around the tower. Instantly I feel it strengthen. Leaning in, he whispers, “Just hold on a little longer, I’ll be right back.” He turns to Mathis. “Please…”
Mathis nods. “I’ve got her.”
Rylan gives me one last desperate look before he rushes off, and I feel my body shudder as the last of my magic hiccups out of me.
“I’m draining,” I whisper, the weight of the crumbling tower pressing on every nerve.
“I know,” Mathis admits, his voice tight with worry, “but I had to get him to go destroy their weaponry. We’ll have help as soon as Doran comes back with our Terranir. Just hold on.”
A sudden, blinding light arcs across the battlefield, and I look up just in time to see Rylan, fire blazing from his hands, incinerating the rebels’ weapons. Relief and awe wash over me, but it’s fleeting. A crack echoes from the other side of the tower. I stretch out my hand, drawing every last flicker of power left in me, and shoot up another layer of ice. It splinters almost immediately, and I gasp, throwing up another, more desperate shield. This one holds, but barely.
The strain is unbearable until I feel a familiar presence at my side. Doran steps up, hands raised, reinforcing my ice with his power, the layers thickening into a solid wall. He looks at me, a wry smile tugging at his lips. “What? I’m not completely useless. I need to prove myself so you’ll pick me for your cadre after all.”
A laugh bursts from my lips, strained but real. “You should have your own. I’m not better than you.”
His eyes glint with a mischievous warmth even in this chaos. “Ah, we both know that’s not true. But I have my value, too. I’m terribly handsome, you know. Girls love freckles.”
I open my mouth to respond, but a glint of metal catches my eye. An enemy arrow embeds itself into my ice wall around the tower. Before I can process what’s happening, the arrow explodes. The ice barrier shatters, splintering into a deadly hailstorm.
“Eirabella! Watch out!” Rylan’s shout is swallowed by the chaos. I throw myself to the ground, arms over my head as shards rain down like daggers, slicing through the air. We stay still until the sound of the ice falling quiets around us. It feels like a lifetime.
Then the silence that follows is suffocating.
Finally, I lift my head, vision blurred by sweat, mist, and dust. Doran is lying over me, his body a shield. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“I think so,” I breathe, glad that I can do so. “You?”
